The week leading up to your wedding day will undoubtedly be a whirlwind, packed with everything from beauty appointments to the rehearsal dinner and gatherings with out-of-town guests. Don’t let your overbooked calendar leave you feeling overwhelmed! Our dear friends at Easton Events are here to guide you. Learn how to plan for these activities in advance as well as tips on what to outsource, so you can enjoy this week to the fullest!

Outsource Welcome Bag Delivery

We love the idea of providing welcome bags for your out of town guests, but we always encourage our brides to outsource delivering the bags. Ask a good friend or family member who has offered to help or hire a local courier service. It is a time-consuming project, and it collides with such a busy time leading up to your wedding. We encourage any bride (and mother of the bride) to remove the delivery from her plate.

Plan Your Wardrobe

While this idea may seem obvious, the weeks leading up to the wedding can be very hectic. We recommend thinking through your wedding week wardrobe in advance to allow time for last minute alterations. Take photos of your outfit for each day on your phone so you can quickly reference the looks when the whirlwind of wedding week festivities begin.

Establish an Exit Strategy

It is so important for the bride to establish her graceful exit strategy, especially for multi-day wedding celebrations. For the Thursday and Friday night parties leading up to your big day, it can be challenging to pull yourself away from the fun unless you have a plan in place – and perhaps a wing woman to help you exit the crowds. To stay fresh and relaxed for the big day, establish a departure time before arriving at the event and rally a friend or family member to ensure you leave at the designated time to get your rest.

Create a Portrait Shot List

To make the most of your wedding day, you need to carve out time ahead of the wedding to think through your photography portrait shot list. It is important that you and your fiancé review the list with your family to make sure you cover all of the necessary bases. As you create your list, keep in mind that each family or group photo will take three to five minutes to arrange and photograph. To further streamline the process, you will want to assign a “photo wrangler” from each side of the family and provide him or her with the shot list. The photo wrangler is responsible for rallying the family, helping identify missing members in the photos, and helping move along the portraits portion of the day. The photographer will not know all of the members of your family, so it is important that you are detailed with your VIP list of pictures. Without this organized list, portraits can consume a lot of your time and limit your ability to enjoy your groom as well as your guests.

Plan the Ceremony Processional

Think through your ceremony and get it down on paper! We recommend creating a diagram of your ceremony so you can strategize the placement of your bridal party. Also list who will sit in the reserved rows and in what order they need to be seated. This way you won’t forget to seat your favorite uncle in the right place!

Avoid Wedding Day Activities

As the bride, you are going to be pulled in a lot of different directions by family, friends, bridal party, and out of town guests leading up to the wedding day. We highly recommend brides remove the stress of attending any wedding day activities and suggest planning formal luncheons and other events that would require the bride’s attendance to occur on the days leading up to or after the wedding. Instead, gather with your bridesmaids for pampering and relaxation the day of the wedding!

Turn Your Cell Off

Power down on your wedding day and designate a point person for any day-of questions or concerns, or put your maid of honor in charge of answering your cell. If you don’t, you will become the “help desk” for your friends and family.